WOODSTOCK — The Mountain Views school board has named the Woodstock Union Middle and High Schools’ interim principal to the permanent post.

The Mountain Views school board made the appointment of Aaron Cinquemani at its Jan. 16 meeting. It took effect immediately.

“Aaron is an outstanding school leader who is committed to educating all students,” Raphael Adamek, the search committee co-chair and the district’s director of technology and innovation, said by email recently. “He is detail oriented, strategic, and reflective, and he has worked to establish deep and meaningful relationships with students, families, teachers, staff, and fellow administrators.”

Cinquemani, who is in his fourth year in the district, spent three years at the helm of Pomfret’s Prosper Valley School, which serves students in grades 5 and 6, before taking the interim position at Woodstock this fall.

Prior to leading Prosper Valley, Cinquemani served for eight years as a principal in New Hampshire’s Fall Mountain School District. 

“It’s a good place to be,” Cinquemani said of the Woodstock school. “It’s a very reflective school district,” he added, “that spends a lot of time and energy thinking about how to do good work.”

He stepped into the interim role following the departure of former principal Garon Smail. Smail is now director of curriculum in the Windham Southwest Supervisory Union.

The Mountain Views School District this fall created a search committee that included students, teachers, staff members, an elementary principal, a parent, and one board member. 

From an initial pool of 12 applicants, the committee narrowed the search down to two finalists, Cinquemani and Kendra Rickerby, who currently heads the Compass School in Westminster, Vt.

The committee decided unanimously to recommend Cinquemani for the position. The board accepted the committee’s recommendation. 

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@ vnews.com or 603-727-3208.